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RUSS MORGAN trombonist bandleader composer arranger AGENCY PHOTO jazz musician
$ 15.81
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Description
This is an 8x10 inch original publicity photo of Russ Morgan (1904 – 1969) an American big band leader, trombonist, pianist, composer and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s.He was best known for being one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock and James Cavanaugh, and was the first to record it in 1944.
At the age of 14, Morgan earned money as a pianist in a theater in Scranton. He purchased a trombone and learned to play it. In 192 he played trombone with the Scranton Sirens, which became popular in Pennsylvania during the 1920s. Besides Morgan, several of its members became famous, including Jimmy Dorsey on saxophone and clarinet, Billy Lustig on violin, and Tommy Dorsey on trombone, taking Morgan's place when Morgan left the band.
In 1922 Morgan moved to New York.Three years later, at the age of twenty-one, he wrote arrangements for John Philip Sousa and Victor Herbert.
He then joined Paul Specht's orchestra and toured throughout Europe with the orchestra.Colleagues of Morgan in Specht's orchestra included Arthur Schutt, Don Lindley, Chauncey Morehouse, Orville Knapp, Paul Whiteman, Charlie Spivak, and Artie Shaw.
After returning from Europe, Jean Goldkette invited Morgan to Detroit to lead his band. Some members of the Goldkette Orchestra were former associates. The band included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Chauncey Morehouse, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Bix Beiderbecke, and Fuzzy Farrar.
Morgan's first records were made for OKeh in mid 1930 for Parlophone and Odeon, usually under the name "Russell Brown and his Orchestra". During the early 1930s, Morgan joined the group of anonymous studio groups recording pop tunes for the dime store labels, which included Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, Conqueror, and Vocalion.
For a short time in 1934, Morgan arranged for Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra.
In 1935 he played trombone with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band when they recorded four sides for Vocalion. On September 12, 1935, Morgan, playing piano and Joe Venuti on violin recorded two sides for Brunswick: "Red Velvet" and "Black Satin". Most of the songs were written by Morgan and Venuti.
Radio work Morgan's biggest success came when he was offered the position of musical director for Detroit radio station WXYZ. His show, Music in the Morgan Manner, became one of the most popular radio shows. At one time during his radio run, he was directing nine commercial programs.
In the early 1930s, Morgan was in an automobile accident that almost ended his career. After several months in the hospital, he started again in New York City as an arranger for the George White Scandals, the Cotton Club Revue, and the Capitol Theatre.
When not arranging for the Broadway shows, Morgan worked as a pianist or trombonist with orchestras led by Phil Spitalny, Eddie Gilligan, Ted Fio Rito, and Freddy Martin.
Russ Morgan joined the Freddy Martin Orchestra in 1934 as a pianist but worked chiefly as a trombonist and arranger with the band. While with Martin's orchestra, he was music director at Brunswick, in New York, where he met Shirley Gray, whom he married in 1939.
In 1949, Morgan had four songs on the charts. They were "So Tired", "Cruising Down the River", "Sunflower" and "Forever and Ever". On the latter he used a vocal quartet that was starting out and would become famous as the Ames Brothers
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